Need reccomendations for PC

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  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    OCZ Pc3200 Platinum Rev. 2 and any Antec TruPower PSU that fits your budget.

    The first one is silly not to get, the second one is arguable.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited May 2005
    Make sure to get a truepower 2.0 they have the 24 pin connector.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited May 2005
    I plan on overclocking if I ever learn how to....i only know the very basics. That memory is what i was originally going to get but really didnt want to spend that much. I was looking for a cheaper solution but that will have to do. I plan on eventually getting 2 6800gt's in SLI, so i need a good power supply. Please post more good PSU's that will handle the (2) 6800gt's.

    This is the memory your talking about, right?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Yep. That's the best there is.

    You don't go to war with a rusty gun, do you?
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited May 2005
    You don't go to war with a rusty gun, do you?

    Only on Tuesdays.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    If you are planning on running 2 6800GT's in SLI the only power supply to get is thePC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 Express/SLI. PERIOD!!!!!

    It is the only one that has been consistant on powering that much hardware with such high demands and will also last a very long time. After all I have seen so far I would rather get a single ATI X850XT PE as SLI isn't perfect yet. The X850XT PE will also come very close to 2 6800GT's in most games and even beat them in a few like HL2, Doom3 and Far Cry. Other than that you are spot on with your choices. I personally am going with the 3700+ (san Diego) which is like the 3500 but has 1 MB of L2 instead of 512 KB for only $60.00 more.

    PS
    If you are going SLI I hope you have a very large case with lots and lots of air flow. Those vid cards will make a lot of heat in addition to what the rest of the system will produce!
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    mtgoat,
    that's the first I've heard of the X850XT PE being able to beat two 6800 GTs. Do you know where a comparison review is?
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Case?
    HSF?
    For PSU there are a few choices, The PC P&C has a good rep and so does Antec. Don't be afraid to go big.

    If you have any doubt about memory read this http://anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2386
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2005
    Another great alternative memory for the DFI NF4 board is the OCZ Gold PC4000 or PC3200 VX DC kits. These use Winbond chips that are the logical follow-on to the BH5 and BH6 of a couple of years ago and will run some very tight ram timings at 250-260 MHz with lots of voltage (3.2-3.6v)and generally are a little cheaper than the TCCD based memory that Thrax talked about. The DFI board is also tailor made for them since it can supply up to 4 volts vdimm without modding. Just remember that you need to actively cool the ddr when you start getting the vdimm up over around 3.3v with a fan. I bought a DC kit of the Gold PC3200 VX and 1 stick will run 2-2-2-10-1t timings at 250 MHz and 3.2v but the other stick is defective and I'm waiting for an answer from Mack presently about RMA'ing it. I just posted to Mack about this stick last night though, so I'm not worried about waiting for an RMA on the defective stick.

    If you want to take a chance with untested memory, OCZ also sells some value Winbond PC3200 DC kits for around $115-120 delivered from either Newegg (they finally started carrying it) or Atacom (original source of them). These have no heatspreaders (which doesn't make a difference anyways) and they haven't been tested for high speed operation at tight timings like the Gold VX, but they use the same chips and pcb. I just ordered a kit last night from Newegg to check them out. Another brand of memory I've heard overclocks well is the TwinMoss 512 MB Speed Premiums, which use Winbond UTT chips and brainpower pcbs. It's also untested for high speed with tight timings but many have been getting around the same results with it as with the OCZ Value Winbond stuff. With either of these choices, you will be taking a chance though, since they aren't tested for the kind of tight timings and high speed operation you will be looking for with that DFI board.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2005
    I've been using an X850XT for several months now, fantastic card! ;)

    The PCP&C supplies are also fantastic. I have the 510 Express, and the rails simply do not fluctuate. I have yet to see them deviate 1/10th of a point.

    Antec makes great PSUs, as does OCZ. I would check out the powerstream series by OCZ. They are widely used by some extreme overclockers, and hold up to all sorts of strain. They are priced much lower than the PCP&C supplies as well.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited May 2005
    Not to knock ocz, but make sure he knows that the memory you suggest,

    a. a short-median works for them, so now that is the brand that is being "pushed" by this forum.

    b. there's a ocz support section here with a OCZ support tech monitoring it.

    but as suggested the tccd stuff is the hot tato right now.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Preacher wrote:
    mtgoat,
    that's the first I've heard of the X850XT PE being able to beat two 6800 GTs. Do you know where a comparison review is?
    Preacher,
    I didn't say all games or across the board but in some games. I was incorrect in which games I listed but here is one from Tom's that was an early comparison of cards including SLI mode. Anandtech did something similar that showed SLI having a little less impact. There are some others that are very recent that show more real world testing as well as some of the bugginess of the first gen SLI so far. I agree that it is superior in a lot of games but it is very very game preferential as to what it likes and settings need to be changed from game to game to gain the most out of it.

    My recomendation mainly stemmed from 2 things;
    1. A single Nvidia card is more power hungry than a single ATI card. And two 6800GT's in SLI will certainly test the limits of any PSU made!
    2. The heat produced from 2 cards of either ATI or Nvidia will be more than teh rest of the system combined. This will make extreme cooling essential as it will affect the CPU, Video cards and the the PSU as far as efficiency and performanmce.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    The OCZ VX memory is made for this mobo and will do amazing things.

    I have doubts about SLI. My bet is that by the time that the 6800GT drops enough in price to make getting a second one attractive the next generation cards willb e out and a single new card will out run 2x6800.
    There is nothing wrong with the 6800GT, and it runs great on the NF4 mobo. Go ahead and get it. I just think that you are more likely to use the slot for something other than SLI.
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited May 2005
    SLI is good for maintaining frame rates at high res with all the prettys on.

    standard res with normal to high detail, you wont need the second but again if you run at 1600x1200 with full everything, that second card will keep dem fps good.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2005
    Gobbles wrote:
    Not to knock ocz, but make sure he knows that the memory you suggest,

    a. a short-median works for them, so now that is the brand that is being "pushed" by this forum.

    b. there's a ocz support section here with a OCZ support tech monitoring it.

    but as suggested the tccd stuff is the hot tato right now.


    My "pushing" the OCZ ram has nothing to do with Mack working for them or not, as well as my recommendation for their ram products like you seem to insinuating in this post, Gobbles. :rolleyes: I'm basing this on my experieces with their ram, which goes back 1 1/2 years or so, when I bought my first OCZ ram, which was PC4400 EL Gold for my IC7-G rig. If you also notice in my post, I also talked about the TwinMoss SP's which some folks have had pretty good luck with too (read at other forums bigger than this one). I figure having Mack here as an official rep of OCZ is a welcome plus, but doesn't influence my opinion of someone else's ram being better or worse than OCZ product.

    As far as the TCCD being "the hot taco", that's not necessarily the case for the DFI board, since it supports such a high range of vdimm without any mods at all. TCCD should work just fine in it, but the older BH5 and BH6 and CH6 and the newer stuff like the VX and SP ram are also great choices for this board too, and the Winbond stuff can generally run tighter timings with enough voltage applied, which this board can do without any mods. All of the memroy options would be great choices for the DFI board; I'm just giving him a more varied option for finding the best deal on memory that will perform well on this board.

    If you want to read some good testing articles on the various types of fast ddr that are presently on the market, go to Anandtech's website and check their fairly recent memory articles out. :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    I'm not going to be so verbose.

    The OCZ TCCD memory was hot **** before Mackanz was ever hired. Aside from the VX and SP memory (Hideously expensive), OCZ's TCCD memory is the best on the market. Whether or not Mackanz works for OCZ is irrelevant to me; I don't care if we ever get a thousand reps from a thousand companies.. I suggest, and buy, what turns up to be the best in testing. OCZ TCCD memory is the best.. And tomorrow, should it not be, I'd suggest whatever superceded it.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited May 2005
    I guess ill rethink my SLI decision. I didnt make that decision until yesterday, i guess it was a spur of the moment idea. For about the past 2 months ive had the DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard picked out. I guess i will stick with that, i got to thinking and like someone else said, by the time the prices drop for the 6800gt's a new more powerful card will be out. Heres the PSU that I had originally picked out for my system with the DFI ultra-d board....the OCZ ATX 520W Power Supply

    That power supply should run my rig perfectly, right?

    Oh and about the san diegos. I may purchase one, but im REALLY tight on my budget. I could probably wait another month and then purchase it, but im getting really excited. When do you think newegg will get the san diegos in?
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Mudd, I didn't get the vibe that Gobbles was insinuating anything of the sort with his post. I've had to take an engineering ethics class to satisfy the ABET criteria for my engineering degree and one of the strong points made in that class is that it is a good thing to announce any possible conflicts of interest, regardless of whether or not they are ever realized. It is then the responsibility of the person receiving the advice to investigate for themselves and decide whether or not to take the advice with a grain of salt.

    -drasnor :fold:
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Another thing to consider if you are planning on running SLI is that shortly after the first run of the Ultra-D boards it may be difficult if not impossible to mod to SLI. I am not certain if currently shipped boards are the new revision chipset or not. And don't forget that you would need to find a "Bridge" somewhere.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2005
    Maybe he wasn't, Dras, but I wanted RiversCuomo to know that nothing of that sort is happening here with either my post or with other people's posts in this thread that are recommending OCZ products. They just happen to be selling a lot of great quality products the last few years, IMO.

    I've always had problems pushing a product I don't personally believe in, even professionally in the oilfield, which has made me butt heads with middle and upper management before. I guess I care for a customer or friend more than company profits. :D
  • GobblesGobbles Ventura California
    edited May 2005
    Listen, im just stating that of late OCZ seems to be the most widely recommended memory, where someone could get memory of the same caliber for a lesser price. When I built my system Thrax insisted that corsair xms was the only memory to live by. Heck not long ago, wasnt everyone touting patriot memory cuz it was super cheap and made with high end chips?

    Im not downing OCZ, im not saying its not the best right now. Im not questioning anyones ethics. What I am taking issue with are statements like

    "Yep. That's the best there is.

    You don't go to war with a rusty gun, do you?"

    This statement right after he said he didnt really want to spend that much. So make your recommendation, but atleast offer a cost alternative be it the same brand as mudd suggested or another.

    thats all I have to say.
  • rykoryko new york
    edited May 2005
    i just want to say that i don't think SLI is really worth it. besides the shortcomings already mentioned, there is no support for dual monitors, and no support for widescreen monitors. hopefully ati's MVP thing will be more flexible, but only time will tell.

    also, here are some alternatives for your RAM if you are on a budget... i know the ocz value has been mentioned before, but i put the link so you can compare. really though if you can afford it everybody else pretty much has it covered with the ocz gold, ocz vx or any tccd series.

    g. skill 1gb pc3200 cl 2.3.3.6 = $103
    http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231012

    ocz value 1gb pc3200 cl 2.5.4.4.8 = $113
    http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227213

    patriot 1gb pc3200 cl 2.3.2.5 = $135
    http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220006
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited May 2005
    ryko, the OCZ you linked to is the Winbond value pc3200 (same chips and pcb as the VX sticks, but not tested for tight timings and no heatspreader) I was talking about. I ordered a kit yesterday to see how well it overclocks.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2005
    mtgoat wrote:
    Another thing to consider if you are planning on running SLI is that shortly after the first run of the Ultra-D boards it may be difficult if not impossible to mod to SLI. I am not certain if currently shipped boards are the new revision chipset or not. And don't forget that you would need to find a "Bridge" somewhere.

    I believe the A00 (which you should return if you get btw, prerelease revision) and A02 boards are modable, but I've heard rumors that the AA0/AA2 hardware revisions are not. Apparently DFI got into a little spit with nvidia on this matter.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited May 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    ryko, the OCZ you linked to is the Winbond value pc3200 (same chips and pcb as the VX sticks, but not tested for tight timings and no heatspreader) I was talking about. I ordered a kit yesterday to see how well it overclocks.

    Apparently only a small cut of those ic's get chosen for the VX 3200 and 4000 series of ram, but I'd be curious to see what you hit! Seems most people were hitting ~230-240MHz 2-2-2. I think for the most part, pretty much any VX 3200 will do 250MHz @ 2-2-2.
  • rykoryko new york
    edited May 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    ryko, the OCZ you linked to is the Winbond value pc3200 (same chips and pcb as the VX sticks, but not tested for tight timings and no heatspreader) I was talking about. I ordered a kit yesterday to see how well it overclocks.

    yeah i have high hopes for this stuff! ...i just ordered it today for a friend and i am very curious how it performs. although she won't be overclocking any i'll see how tight the timings can get at 400. :thumbsup:
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited May 2005
    so the power supply i posted earlier should power my machine perfectly, right? (without SLI, its using the DFI ultra-d)
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    so the power supply i posted earlier should power my machine perfectly, right? (without SLI, its using the DFI ultra-d)
    Like a champ!!! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    RiversCuomo wrote:
    Oh and about the san diegos. I may purchase one, but im REALLY tight on my budget. I could probably wait another month and then purchase it, but im getting really excited. When do you think newegg will get the san diegos in?
    I don't know about New Egg but my AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 1MB 90nm Rev. E is on its way from Monarch.
  • RiversCuomoRiversCuomo Missouri New
    edited May 2005
    ok, im glad the OCZ PSU will work fine. I guess i will wait till the last minute and see if newegg gets the new core in for the athlons. I will probably purchase my pc on may 26, if newegg doesnt have the new san diegos in then i will just get the venice core. either way, its still a good buy.
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